Well for thirty bucks or so you could get a simple wheel, and then write out mantras and stuff it yourself. A some point you might want to check with a lama to see if things are all correctly done, but I don't think you could go far wrong with a practice as dedicated as this.

catmoon wrote:Well for thirty bucks or so you could get a simple wheel, and then write out mantras and stuff it yourself. A some point you might want to check with a lama to see if things are all correctly done, but I don't think you could go far wrong with a practice as dedicated as this.

That's what I did with my mani wheel, now it has the vajra guru mantra and the om mani mantra in it.

Since we're on the subject of hand-held prayer wheels, I thought I'd mention that Gyatrul Rinpoche had a bunch of hand-held prayer wheels containing the Stainless Confession tantra made up a while back. This tantra contains outer, inner, secret, and innermost secret levels of confessions and its importance for practitioners today was foretold by Guru Padmasambhava. You all may know its fourth chapter, The Inexpressible Absolute Confession. The prayer wheel casings were also gathered up and blessed by the late HH Jigme Phuntsog Rinpoche.

Anyhow, I dunno for sure but Vimalatreasures.org may still have some left. They're not shown on the website, but so much that's in the actual store (at Tashi Choling) is not on the website. So maybe an email inquiry could pay off for one who's interested. If Vimala doesn't have any left, Orgyen Dorje Den may still have some (orgyendorjeden.org). They were a little spendy at $108 but when you consider their inconceivable usefulness and power-I use mine all the time, particularly when doing the Vajrasattva part of ngondro. Also, they're made very well so they spin like a dream and are very nice looking as well. Anyway, just a heads up.

Malcolm wrote:The mani is a dharani, so here is a sutra system for chanting it. Arapacana is also from sutra.

Ah. So it's okay I gave my S.O. the mani mantra. I tried to get him to receive it from the Karmapa, but he refused. But he did recite it all the time. One time asked me if it was okay if he could say it for himself (mostly he did the mantra for others).

The tantras you are mentioning are so called "kalpa" tantras, sections of sutra that are also classfied as kriya tantra, so again, no contradiction.

Visualizing in the space in front, the same reason Green Tara practice as an outer tantra can be done by any and all.

Most of the mantras that Chinese people are chanting are from sutra or dharani texts. Many of these were also translated from Chinese into Tibetan.

Once a traveller, coming back from the mountains went to sit for a cup of tea. Then sound started to penetrate the place. The traveller started to cry and cry. Others could not understand this reaction, they tried to give comfort, but their friend was full of devotion. After the mantra song and many hot tears, the traveller kneeled down and went to put a candle on and said: I don't know, I am just so happy, so grateful!